Our project was initially inspired by the desire to find a means to empower women. As we continued to discuss issues faced by women worldwide, the gender pay gap arose as a topic that is often mentioned but rarely taken action upon. The complacency reinforces the discrimination women often face in the workforce, and we decided to take action.
Our website aims to educate and incite action for change in women and men alike by depicting the gender wage gap in a series of data visualizations and offering action items. As a group of women pursuing primarily male-dominated professional fields, our narrative resonates with women worldwide and we hope that the awareness can drive impact and inspire change for the better. After all, the future is female.
The data used in our project comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, specifically the Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey of 2016. Specific earnings numbers were based on the reported Median Weekly Earnings of Men and Women. Visualizations made with Chart.js .
The first challenge we faced was presenting the data in a user-friendly, yet fully informative manner. There were several alternatives of how we could best present the data in an impactful way, we ended up selecting the format that we felt was most intuitive and eye-catching. We also wanted to bring the issue to life and contextualize the problems, and further offer realistic solutions and an action plan. In doing so, we had to balance our vision with the time constraint, and commit to both quality and function.
Collaborating as a cohesive team is our greatest point of pride throughout this experience. Being able to divide up the work and efficiently achieve the goals we set out for ourselves would not have been possible with our positive team dynamics and diverse skill sets. We are incredibly proud of our final product, and incredibly grateful to be able to walk out of this experience with new knowledge and new friends.
We've learned that there is no easy solution to social issues that challenge us. Awareness is the first step to taking action, and we hope that we can springboard women and men across the nation to combat The Wage War.
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